Election bill stalemate drags on

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 02/29/2008 1:47 AM  |  Headlines

The House of Representatives was out of luck again on Thursday evening as it moved to further delay the endorsement of the election bill to Monday.

The decision came after three hours of closed-door negotiations among leaders of House factions.

House Speaker Agung Laksono announced the postponement as the plenary session resumed at about 9:15 p.m., citing unsettled disputes over two articles related to the seat allocation mechanism.

"We agreed to decide only on the two contentious issues on residual votes and how to determine elected candidates through a vote on Monday," Agung said.

The House should have passed a bill that maintains collection of residual votes at the provincial level and determines elected legislative candidates based on numerical order.

The top two major factions, the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which control more than 50 percent of the House seats between them, supported the provisions.

National Awakening Party (PKB) faction head Effendy Choirie said PKB, Golkar Party, PDI-P and the Prosperous Justice Party had demanded during the negotiation the vote be held straight away.

"Other factions wanted a delay for unclear reasons," Effendy said after the plenary.

PKB took side with Golkar and PDI-P regarding the two controversial matters, which observers said would only keep the predominant role of political parties intact despite waning public trust.

Agung said all faction leaders took a unanimous decision on the delay.

But PDI-P, who was represented in the negotiation, lashed out at the postponement.

"We appreciate the negotiation, but we have to feel ashamed as the public know we have to delay the vote," PDI-P faction chairman Tjahjo Kumolo told the plenary.

Tjahjo said the House should have endorsed the bill on Thursday using whatever means, otherwise the election schedule would be affected.

"We have negotiated the tough issues 22 times as part of deliberations, which have lasted months," he said.

"We have accommodated aspirations of House factions and the government."

General Elections Commission member Andi Nurpati said he regretted the postponement, saying it would move back all schedules, with the 2009 polls drawing near.

"There are many programs awaiting us but we cannot do much about them until the bill is passed," he said.

"The delay will slow the election process and we may have to compress certain activities to save time."

Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto had said the government did not expect the House to vote on the bill.

Pressed for time because of slow deliberations on the election bill, the commission procured election materials through direct appointment ahead of the 2004 polls.

As a result three commission members, including chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin, were brought to trial and convicted for accepting kickbacks.

The graft cases tarnished the elections, billed as the most democratic ever in the country by the international community.

Another PKB lawmaker, Abdullah Azwar Anas, said the delay reflected the immaturity of House members.

"We have hijacked the right of the general public, who has long waited for the election law," Abdullah said.

"But for the sake of factions' interests, we stalled the deliberation process, which only shows we are not mature yet," he said. (alf)

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